Carrots
International Carrot Day is celebrated today. Started in 2003, the day honors the healthy and versatile vegetable. While the majority of carrots consumed are orange, varieties of carrots are red, purple, white, and even black. The carrot is a root vegetable, but the tops can be eaten as greens. The vegetable can be prepared in a variety of ways, from carrot slaw to carrot cake. Carrots provide many vitamins and minerals, but they are especially high in Vitamin A.
Children, knowing that a carrot is a root, could classify different vegetables as to what parts we eat. They could list other roots, such as turnips and parsnips. They could list stem vegetables, tuber vegetables, leafy vegetables, and even vegetables that are really fruits, such as squash and peppers.
United States flag with thirteen stripes and a star for each state was adopted in 1818. Prior to this time, a star and stripe was added each time a state was admitted to the Union. By 1817 the flag had twenty stripes and twenty stars, and the flag was becoming cumbersome. Samuel Chester Reid, a naval hero of the War of 1812, suggested the stripes remain at thirteen, and the number of stars change as new states joined the union. Children could view a timeline of the American flag at: 
